GardenPalooza: The Tour brings together the best local nurseries from Woodland to Corvallis for a celebration designed to excite local gardeners and kick-start the fall gardening season. Each store will offer a different mix of specials, classes, seminars, speakers and exclusive sales, along with thousands of plants, garden supplies and garden art.
Check out our specials and classes at http://www.garlandnursery.com.  You can find out about other nurseries at http://www.gardenpalooza.com.

by Debbie Boyer

The brisk air surrounds me as I water my vegetable garden this morning.  The dog days of summer are passing and harvest is coming closer to an end. Soon I can go inside and forget about the garden for winter.  NO, wait, that's not right!  There is so much more to do.
 
For the third year in a row I am putting in a winter garden. Sure, 20 years ago I read Steve Solomon's book "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades", but I'm a slow learner, not to mention kids, job, friends, family etc...However, I am learning that winter gardening is slower and it does not require the intensity and time commitment of a summer garden.
 
The first thing I will do is to shovel my finished compost onto the beds that I will use to plant my winter vegetables.  If you don't have a compost pile at home you can use Gardner & Bloome organic Harvest Supreme as a soil amendment. Then it is just a matter of selecting varieties of winter vegetables that you want to plant. 
 
I was inspired to grow cabbage this year when I saw them growing at a community garden. They were beautiful plants with large red leaves touched with powder gray and bright red heads in the center.  My fall lettuce has been planted, along with arugula (a peppery, leafy green) and cilantro. My garlic did so well for me last year that I have plenty to give away, use in my own kitchen and set some aside for this years planting.  I save the largest cloves to plant as they will make the biggest heads.  Into my mix this year I will grow the Spanish Roja variety of garlic. This is an Oregon heirloom hardneck type with "true" garlic flavor.
 
Now is a great time to put in your brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale and onions. Most of the cole crops that you plant this time of year will have fewer insect problems than in spring and summer.  If you do have insect issues try Captain Jack's Deadbug brew.  It contains spinosad, a microbe found in the fermentation process of rum. Spinosad will take care of your chewing and sucking insect problems.  If you prefer, there is insecticidal soap or Neem oil.  For really difficult problems with cabbage loopers or caterpillars try BT (bacillus thuringiensis).
 
So, with all of that done there is still one more thing to do.  Plant a cover crop in any unused area of the garden.  This is something I do every year and find it to be very beneficial on many levels.  I always use crimson clover.  It germinates fast, helps with soil erosion, fixes nitrogen in the soil and quickly breaks down in the spring, adding organic matter to the soil.  There are many different types of cover crops for different uses.  I recommend having a look at the Territorial seed catalog and reading up on which one might work best for your individual needs.
 
Now that all of the hard work is done remember to water regularly until the fall rains begin in earnest. Sit back, have a cup of Joe and dream of spring. Happy gardening!

 

by Crystal Cady

There is nothing I love more than to enjoy fruits and vegetables fresh from my own garden. As much time as I may spend planning, planting, and tending to my garden, it is all worth it ten fold when I bite into and savor something I proudly grew. During the season it becomes a fun ritual to hike down to my garden every evening and see what I can incorporate into dinner that night or what I might plan to can or preserve the next day. The possibilities are endless and it is so much fun to enjoy your own bounty and share with friends and family.         
So where does this fun begin and how can you join in? Simple! Early each spring I sit down and make a list of what I want to grow, how much I would like to yield fresh, and how much I would like to preserve. From there I draw out my raised garden beds and start planning away! Now of course this is not exact science or a set plan, in fact it changes every year, and for reasons such as crop rotation it probably should! I have gardened for over 20 some years now and I am still learning! Each garden is different, each year the weather pattern is different, and there are always new things to try! But for the sake of planning out what goes in each bed I take into account things that did and didn't work the previous season. Maybe the year before I planted my corn in a direction that didn't allow the wind to pollinate it well, or my peppers too close to an area that gets late day shade or even my perennial crops in an area that might stay too wet in the winter. So when you are planning what goes where, keep things that worked well in mind so you can continue to build on your success each season.
Now to the good part! Preserving your harvest is also something you can start small with and build on. The very first thing I ever preserved was cucumbers; I turned those little cukes into some tasty pickles! Each year the variety of things I preserve and the amount seems to keep growing! How did I get started? By asking questions! I always say that the best way to learn is by hands on and asking questions! I had a co-worker at the time who raved about his pickles! He and I finally chatted enough about 'how to' that he passed on his personal recipe. That summer I made my first batch of pickles and couldn't have been more pleased! As the years went on I began tweaking the recipe just slightly so it became my own. Pickles were fun for awhile (and believe me I still do numerous jars of pickles each year!) but I wanted to branch out! So I started talking to other friends and seeing what they were doing and what they were growing. Eventually as the summers went on, my list of friends I would can with grew and the variety of things we were canning grew as well. Before you know it I became the go to gal. People would say 'Ooohh go ask Crystal! She grows an amazing garden and preserves all this fun stuff!'
While I will never say I know it all, I will certainly say I have learned a lot and there is still a lot more to learn! As I become familiar with the same crop year after year, I know about how many plants I need to grow to have plenty of fresh harvest and plenty for preserving. But as I said earlier, there are many factors that can affect that. And this year has certainly proven that! For this season I planned to have plenty for fresh harvest all season long and to be able to preserve about 25 jars of each item I planned to preserve. Let's just say at this point I have had plenty of fresh harvest but have a whole canning cupboard full of empty jars! Who knew this growing season would turn out to be so cool? Not I, and certainly not my green little tomatoes and small pepper plants! Nevertheless the harvest will still go on! It will just be a late one and I will diligently can until I can no longer! A big piece of advice though is once it is getting late in the season and we are nearing hard frosts that will kill off things such a peppers and tomatoes keep an eye on the temperatures. Once it gets to the point where I think we are going to frost hard enough that I will lose items, I pick them green and bring them in to ripen. There are several items that will further ripen on their own if picked green such as tomatoes, melons, peppers, and squash if they are up to size enough.
I hope my story has inspired you to get out and preserve something from your garden! Here are two of my favorite things to preserve and share with others....and my recipes to pass on to you! Happy preserving and I hope to see you at the nursery soon! I'd love to help you plan your harvest and give you some preserving pointers! Cheers! ~Crystal

p.s. I will be presenting a canning demo this Thursday at 11am as part of the Garden Palooza Tour Event.  Also, to take a look at two of my canning recipes at our website,
click here.

5470 Highway 20
Corvallis, Oregon 97330
Halfway between Corvallis and Albany
541-753-6601
Store Hours:
Mon-Fri 9-6pm
Saturday 9-5pm
Sunday 10-5pm